Suggestion: everyone should design a knife

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zhyla
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Suggestion: everyone should design a knife

#1

Post by zhyla »

There's so much chatter here about could we get this old design with these tweaks or this current knife with this steel and this lock. I wanted to make a suggestion. Everyone, every last one of us, should design a folding knife from scratch. In doing so I think you'll come to appreciate the knives Spyderco makes on a different level. There are some things they make look effortless that actually require quite a bit of thought or manufacturing experience.

I've been working on a design myself for a while and I've found it to be quite eye-opening. I had some time today (sick day) and started fleshing out some missing pieces of my design. I am about 90% of the way there and realized... there's no place to attach a clip! I hadn't even thought about clips. Do I want a wire clip? A standard Delica hourglass clip? The design uses linerless G-10 (or maybe micarta) and has a backspacer that doesn't have enough area to bolt a clip onto. I might go with thread inserts like they did on the Manix 2 backlock but... or, argh, redesign the handle to have room for a larger backspacer.

So yeah, I think a lot of people here would find this exercise eye-opening. I've got a CAD background so I'm doing this in Fusion 360. But you can get a long way with pencil and paper (that's how they used to do things anyway). And you can cut out shapes in cardboard to figure out ergonomics etc.

The next step of course is attempting to manufacture a folder. This is both a lot harder than it might seem to a lot of people and not quite as daunting as you may think. A lot of it comes down to figuring out the how of what you're building. How will I hold onto this tiny part to cut this feature in it?

Luckily folders are so small that you can build a prototype with not much more than a drill and some files. It's also possible to 3d print some parts to save time.

If all of that is still just too much I will mention that fixed blades knives are dead simple to design and build. Everyone started somewhere.

So there, I've said it, stop armchair quarterbacking and actually design and possibly even make something. You'll be glad you did!
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Bloke
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Re: Suggestion: everyone should design a knife

#2

Post by Bloke »

zhyla wrote:
Tue Mar 19, 2019 2:32 pm
I've been working on a design myself for a while
Image
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Evil D
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Re: Suggestion: everyone should design a knife

#3

Post by Evil D »

I feel like I could do it. In fact I plan to eventually.
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ShaneInDenver
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Re: Suggestion: everyone should design a knife

#4

Post by ShaneInDenver »

I've been playing around with making fixed blades in my garage, mainly kitchen knives. I start with a design I like and modify it using drafting paper, transfer the design to wood to get a feel for ergonomics and size. I don't have many tools, I built a Gough jig, 2 brick forge, I've got a Harbor Freight 1x30 belt sander and angle grinder, I quench in canola oil (120 - 130 degrees fahrenheit) and temper in a toaster oven using an Ikea thermometer. It sure is fun, but really makes you appreciate the time and energy that goes into a lot of these designs. So far I've played around with 1080, 1084, 1095, 15N20 and 52100, I think I like 15N20 for kitchen knives the best so far.

I still haven't made a folding knife yet, the mechanics, lock, etc. intimidate me, but I'll eventually get there. Are there any folding knife template people recommend to get me started? Do we have a thread where makers post their work?
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Re: Suggestion: everyone should design a knife

#5

Post by ChrisinHove »

I’m waiting for something really clever to come to mind.

It may be a while!
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ladybug93
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Re: Suggestion: everyone should design a knife

#6

Post by ladybug93 »

i "designed" a knife and got it all cut out of some nice o1 tool steel, but i stopped there. it still needs a grind and heat treat. i don't have the tools to put a proper scandi grind on a knife and don't have a forge. i say "designed" because it's really just a modification of one of my favorite little fixed blades, the esee izula.
keep your knife sharp and your focus sharper.
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zhyla
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Re: Suggestion: everyone should design a knife

#7

Post by zhyla »

ShaneInDenver wrote:
Tue Mar 19, 2019 3:57 pm
I still haven't made a folding knife yet, the mechanics, lock, etc. intimidate me, but I'll eventually get there. Are there any folding knife template people recommend to get me started? Do we have a thread where makers post their work?
The knife making community is pretty fragmented. There's plenty of fixed blade makers at the knifemaking subreddit and the Bladeforums maker section, but it seems like people post folders very rarely.

I think making frame locks out of titanium is fairly straight forward. Years ago I found a tutorial on that, I'm sure if you google you'll find something.
ladybug93 wrote:
Tue Mar 19, 2019 5:14 pm
i "designed" a knife and got it all cut out of some nice o1 tool steel, but i stopped there. it still needs a grind and heat treat. i don't have the tools to put a proper scandi grind on a knife and don't have a forge. i say "designed" because it's really just a modification of one of my favorite little fixed blades, the esee izula.
There are heat treat houses that will heat treat for not much money. You can do the grind with a file and patience.
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SpyderEdgeForever
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Re: Suggestion: everyone should design a knife

#8

Post by SpyderEdgeForever »

I agree, zhyla.
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SpyderEdgeForever
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Re: Suggestion: everyone should design a knife

#9

Post by SpyderEdgeForever »

Bloke wrote:
Tue Mar 19, 2019 2:48 pm
zhyla wrote:
Tue Mar 19, 2019 2:32 pm
I've been working on a design myself for a while
Image
Bloke that looks familiar. What model is that?
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Bloke
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Re: Suggestion: everyone should design a knife

#10

Post by Bloke »

SpyderEdgeForever wrote:
Tue Mar 19, 2019 7:57 pm
Bloke that looks familiar. What model is that?
I forget what it’s called SEF but it was designed by famous Australian knife maker, Bluey Kutchyahkockoff. :cool:
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Re: Suggestion: everyone should design a knife

#11

Post by ZrowsN1s »

I have a few sketches and cardboard mock ups. Maybe someday they will become a reality.
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Re: Suggestion: everyone should design a knife

#12

Post by Tims »

Bloke wrote:
Tue Mar 19, 2019 8:46 pm
SpyderEdgeForever wrote:
Tue Mar 19, 2019 7:57 pm
Bloke that looks familiar. What model is that?
I forget what it’s called SEF but it was designed by famous Australian knife maker, Bluey Kutchyahkockoff. :cool:
He sounds Russian
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ChrisinHove
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Re: Suggestion: everyone should design a knife

#13

Post by ChrisinHove »

Tims wrote:
Wed Mar 20, 2019 12:18 am
Bloke wrote:
Tue Mar 19, 2019 8:46 pm
SpyderEdgeForever wrote:
Tue Mar 19, 2019 7:57 pm
Bloke that looks familiar. What model is that?
I forget what it’s called SEF but it was designed by famous Australian knife maker, Bluey Kutchyahkockoff. :cool:
He sounds Russian
Unfortunately, the last of his line....
Tims
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Re: Suggestion: everyone should design a knife

#14

Post by Tims »

ChrisinHove wrote:
Wed Mar 20, 2019 1:03 am
Tims wrote:
Wed Mar 20, 2019 12:18 am
Bloke wrote:
Tue Mar 19, 2019 8:46 pm
SpyderEdgeForever wrote:
Tue Mar 19, 2019 7:57 pm
Bloke that looks familiar. What model is that?
I forget what it’s called SEF but it was designed by famous Australian knife maker, Bluey Kutchyahkockoff. :cool:
He sounds Russian
Unfortunately, the last of his line....
Mate all I know is his knives are expensive, so don’t tell the wife or it might Kostyanutztu
M4Life
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Re: Suggestion: everyone should design a knife

#15

Post by M4Life »

zhyla wrote:
Tue Mar 19, 2019 2:32 pm
I am about 90% of the way there and realized... there's no place to attach a clip! I hadn't even thought about clips.
i designed a folder using Fusion 360 as well a few months ago, I also completely forgot the pocket clip on my design as well, I ended up just not adding a pocket clip since too much of the design would have needed to be changed in order to make it work.
Genome Assembled presentation side v58.png
Genome Assembled v58.png
Out of curiosity did you make all of the components of your design in the same file or did you make the blade, handle scales, etc. separately and then derive all of the components onto a single document at the end (that's what I ended up doing)?
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My knives: Para 3 S110V (customized), Para 3 M390, PM2 S110V, Manix 2 CPM 154/S90V, Dice, Rubicon, Vrango, Native 5 CPM 154/S90V, Manbug ZDP-189, Ladybug, Chaparral LW, Kizer Megatherium
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wrdwrght
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Re: Suggestion: everyone should design a knife

#16

Post by wrdwrght »

zhyla wrote:
Tue Mar 19, 2019 2:32 pm
stop armchair quarterbacking
Yup.

Imagine a world where we walked in other people’s shoes from time to time.
-Marc (pocketing an M4 Sage5 today)

“When science changes its opinion, it didn’t lie to you. It learned more.”
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tvenuto
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Re: Suggestion: everyone should design a knife

#17

Post by tvenuto »

wrdwrght wrote:
Wed Mar 20, 2019 10:14 am
zhyla wrote:
Tue Mar 19, 2019 2:32 pm
stop armchair quarterbacking
Yup.

Imagine a world where we walked in other people’s shoes from time to time.
Actually...don’t. Your real-world feedback is valuable to Spyderco (and is a big part of the discussion on this forum). Knife designers make compromises and mistakes. It’s perfectly valid to point out where you think the mistakes are or where the compromise was unfavorable to you. Just do it respectfully.
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wrdwrght
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Re: Suggestion: everyone should design a knife

#18

Post by wrdwrght »

tvenuto wrote:
Wed Mar 20, 2019 10:31 am
wrdwrght wrote:
Wed Mar 20, 2019 10:14 am
zhyla wrote:
Tue Mar 19, 2019 2:32 pm
stop armchair quarterbacking
Yup.

Imagine a world where we walked in other people’s shoes from time to time.
Actually...don’t. Your real-world feedback is valuable to Spyderco (and is a big part of the discussion on this forum). Knife designers make compromises and mistakes. It’s perfectly valid to point out where you think the mistakes are or where the compromise was unfavorable to you. Just do it respectfully.
I’ll respectfully disagree.

I don’t fault your premise, but I think your characterization of the second-guessing is too generous. Many suggested improvements are impulsive and trivialize the decisions Sal, Eric, and others have made through trial-and-error.

Tamping down frivolous suggestions—the point of this thread, I believe—does not rule out experiential feedback, which, we agree, is gold to Spyderco.
-Marc (pocketing an M4 Sage5 today)

“When science changes its opinion, it didn’t lie to you. It learned more.”
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Crux
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Re: Suggestion: everyone should design a knife

#19

Post by Crux »

Every design I try ends up looking like a Para 3.
Can you find it and can it cut? :eek:
vivi
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Re: Suggestion: everyone should design a knife

#20

Post by vivi »

I did.

Image

It's an EDC fixed blade with a deep guard, pointy tip and strong negative angle.

viewtopic.php?f=2&t=81708 - more details
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